Seeking new revenue streams and operational efficiencies, many businesses are re-tooling their infrastructure, development and operations to deploy applications into private clouds. However, the challenges of legacy architecture, up-front investment requirements, and team skills have been obstacles to wider acceptance of cloud initiatives. WSO2 Vice President of Technology Evangelism Chris Haddad will explore how early private cloud adopters are realizing a multitude of benefits at Cloud Computing West 2012. The conference runs November 8-9, 2012 at the DoubleTree Suites in Santa Monica, CA.

In his presentation, “Investing in Cloud Initiatives,” Chris will examine how early private cloud adopters are successfully adapting their IT business models, vendor-provided infrastructure, and practices to gain cloud benefits. Additionally, Chris will outline:...

Cloud computing has been a hot topic during the last few years for technology specialists all over the world. Cloud computing has been adopted by many enterprises, but still challenges continue to rise. With all the articles and documentation on this subject, there are many myths that have developed over time. So here are the most common myths regarding cloud computing: security, data loss and performance.

Security is compromised in the cloud

Without a doubt, this is the most talked about point. In order to be a successful service provider, cloud providers have to assure the customers or prospects that their data is secure. The security risks that exist in the cloud are no different than the ones that exist in-house. The greatest advantage when outsourcing to cloud is that providers are permanently focused on improving controls and procedures so that the data is always secure, while enterprises might neglect this focus from time to time. So one could argue that a risk could be to remain in a physical environment. Most cloud computing providers also offer the customer different levels of security protection, which allows for more enhanced security...

In the wild kingdom of cloud computing, there are still a few mountains to summit. Development in the cloud is a big one. Software is truly eating the world, and today code and the teams writing it are the crown jewel of almost any business. Software is increasingly the way most businesses will differentiate from one another, leapfrogging each other’s product or service, accelerating how quickly they onboard new employees or improve logistics.

All that code — the characters on a keyboard strung together harmonically and the teams that weave it together — means a lot to the bottom line. So creating ways for teams to churn it out even faster is a huge opportunity. That’s where the cloud comes in...

A patent by the inventors Peercy, Mark S. (Cupertino, CA); Loh, Danny D. (Menlo Park, CA), filed on May 29, 2009, was cleared and issued on October 23, 2012, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by VerticalNews correspondents. Patent number 8296763 is assigned to Adobe Systems Incorporated (San Jose, CA). The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: "Description of the Related Art":

"The computing, information, and communication industries are undergoing a massive transition with the rise of low-cost, high-performance devices, high-bandwidth communication infrastructure, and the Internet. The personal computer (PC), once a stalwart of information technology, is in rapid retreat, its value being drained away by innumerable large and small players offering solutions to problems that overlap the offerings of the PC and often extend well beyond them. Unfortunately, although users have been offered a dramatically wider array of options than before, it has come at a very real cost: data and applications are fragmented across heterogeneous and often incompatible devices and the Internet, device management has become extraordinarily complicated, and devices and Internet services come and go at an astonishing rate. Chores that were complicated for some users, even when they had just one PC to manage, have become significantly more difficult...

A blustery lady named Sandy may be the motivation some agencies need to finally jump aboard the cloud. The full effect of Sandy -- the “frankenstorm” that started as a tropical system, grew into a hurricane, then collided with two other systems to become a different kind of devastating event -- is yet unknown. But as one former federal CIO said Oct. 31 agencies often have the newer systems and data centers because of their recent transition to the cloud. And those newer data centers, which are designed to handle natural disasters, likely rode out the storm without significant disruption.

“If they have sort of a weaker infrastructure, I would think [Sandy] would be a motivating factor. If they have a very solid infrastructure already established, I’m not sure it would make any difference,” said Gregg “Skip” Bailey, director at Deloitte Consulting LLP and the federal cloud computing lead at the firm. He was formerly CIO at the Bureau for Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives...

Over the past several years, technology has taken some giant leaps forward in terms of allowing businesses to better engage with their employees, customers, and competitors – and one of the biggest keys in providing companies with the means to do so is cloud computing. The term cloud computing – a concept that was unknown to the majority of the planet until just a few short years ago – has today become almost a household name.

In this article, I will discuss how the current and future need by large and small companies, as well as by individuals, has helped in transforming the businesses that both provide cloud computing and allow for the usage of cloud computing capabilities – and in turn may lead to a great opportunity for investors...

Pano Logic, the provider of the end-to-end, virtual hardware and software desktop solution Pano System, has gone out of business, according to the company’s former public relations firm.

The shutdown comes shortly after the company announced a PC replacement project with the $3.4 billion Redstone Federal Credit Union in Huntsville, Ala. Redstone FCU had been in the process of replacing 75% of its PCs with Pano Logic’s virtual desktop computing solutions and planned to continue the project into 2013...

In the age of cloud computing, it's an archaic thought: The livelihood of some popular websites currently rests on bucket brigades carrying diesel fuel up multiple flights of stairs just to keep generators running. But that's the reality as Lower Manhattan struggles with massive power outages and flooded understructures in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. It's a decidedly 17th Century solution to a 21st Century problem. But it's the only way to get fuel to generators that are located in powerless high-rises when elevators are out of service and basement fuel pumps are incapacitated due to flooding?

For site admins at Fog Creek Software in New York, the solution is clear, albeit arduous: When diesel is delivered to their building at 75 Broad Street, the fuel is hand-delivered to the generators on the 17th floor via bucket brigade, giving the online service provider more hours of uptime while basement flooding is cleared and the building awaits power restoration from ConEd. Meanwhile, users of services like Trello, FogBugz and Copilot are basically in a holding pattern, knowing that one missed fuel delivery or downed generator is all that stands between uptime and downtime right now...

Chris Weitz, a director at Deloitte Consulting LLP, is charged with leading the financial services consulting company's team for advisory services in cloud computing. He's been in this role for five years, and previously held a global consulting position with Deloitte for nine years. Overall, he's been in the IT business for a little over 30 years.

Thus, cloud computing is hardly the first seismic shift in IT that Weitz has seen. And when it comes to cloud security and data privacy -- identified by 49% of the more than 950 people polled recently by Deloitte at its Dbrief event as the most challenging aspect of implementing a hybrid cloud environment -- he says the major cloud providers are better at it than most people think...

TransparentBusiness.com, an online platform that helps to optimize performance, coordination and monitoring of virtual teams, was distinguished as a "Rising Star" in the category "Best Cloud Computing Solution for Enterprise" during the 14th edition of PC World Latin America Awards. The solution competed with five other cloud-based tools: SAP Sales on Demand, HP CloudSystem Enterprise, Microsoft Office 365, Citrix Cloud Platform and VMWare View 5.

Launched in April 2012 by KMGi, TransparentBusiness.com is a web application that allows managing and monitoring all computer-based work process. The system records time spent by each worker on each task and project, taking screenshots every three minutes and recording worker's activity. It allows managers monitor their global workforce with the same effectiveness as if everyone were in the same office. Additionally, Transparent Business shows true status of each task and protects companies from over billing by external contractors...